


Why It Rains in the Forest and Why It Hurts

by Meisteri



Category: Sky: Children of the Light (Video Game)
Genre: Contains death, Feels, Hidden Forest, I'mnotgoodwithsummaries, Why is Hidden Forest full of feels, personal headcanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meisteri/pseuds/Meisteri
Summary: There's a reason why it only rains in the Hidden Forest. And there's also a reason why the rain hurts, even though it should not be polluted like Golden Wasteland. This is the story of it.(Entry Submission to Event Prompt in Phil.Sky PH: Spirits of the Hidden Forest)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	Why It Rains in the Forest and Why It Hurts

Of all the realms that any sky kid can go through, there is one realm that was different than all the others. Sure, all of them are special in their own way but this one is just…different. It’s a dangerous place but not the same kind of danger as Golden Wasteland or Eden, the kind that makes your heart beat wildly and makes you question whether you’re going to live and reach the end.

No…it wasn’t like that. It was a lot more somber. It was different and dangerous…because it rained.

You see, at the beginning, it never rained in the forest. The creatures of light lived peacefully under the watch of the Forest Elder. To protect this peace, the forest was hidden from others. Only those with permission were allowed to find the forest. However, it was not hard to gain permission. All you had to do was to swear to protect the forest and those within it and light the switch to open the doors.

But not everyone who entered could uphold this promise. The first time, it had been an accident. Someone must have come in carrying something they didn’t know about. Perhaps, it attached to their shoes and they never noticed but nonetheless, it caused harm to the forest. Plants of black and blue sprouted all over and started to eat the light within the forest. Light was abundant and it made the spread of the invasive plants faster and soon, it was also harming the creatures of light.

The second time was not quite intentional but was gradually done by others. To protect the forest from the invasive plants, it was mandated that anybody who sees one would burn it no matter how small it was. However, there were some who would reason out that the plant was small and was probably not doing any harm and pass by it. Others took notice but would reason out that someone else would burn it and that they had seen bigger ones further in. Until the growth of the plants became much harder to contain.

The final straw was because someone turned their back intentionally. Because of the plants growing out of control, the Forest Elder had decided to call the remaining creatures to the part of the forest at the back of the temple. The ones who were in the forest that time helped in shepherding the creatures, freeing them from the plants if they were stuck, except for one man. 

He had been wandering around as people around him sprung into action to help. Until he wandered into a corner where he had found a whale entangled with a large amount of dark plants. It was whimpering and thrashing about, trying to get free. But the man just stood there and watched. When he grew tired, he walked away. The whale’s cries became louder, calling out to the man. But he didn’t want to be bothered. Someone else would find the whale. 

But no one did.

The whale grew tired as the plants slowly sapped its strength away. With its final breath, it let out a wail that was heard throughout the forest. Its head fell to the ground with a thud and it died, alone and betrayed. Soon enough, water started falling from the sky as if the heavens mourned. 

That was the first rainfall.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The next was during the time of a small young girl. She was an adventurous kind, running around the hidden forest with the others as if it was their playground. They climbed the tree trunks, jumping around from one fungi to another. Their laughter was often heard echoing throughout the forest. 

With how small she was, she liked to find places where she would fit. She would crawl into the hollow logs and tried to surprise her other playmates. And one day, it gave her an idea of a new game they could play. She told them about how they could all take turns hiding and trying to find one another. She called it hide and seek. And the others loved it.

When it came to the game, she was the best out of all of them. They always found her last and she always managed to find everyone before running out of time. And one day, she found the perfect hiding spot. A hole just by the river, big enough for her to crawl into but not enough for it to be noticeable. She hid in the darkness, giggling as she heard others call out for her.

Soon, she heard water constantly dripping outside. No longer could she hear the voices of her friends. It became pitch black in the hole she was hiding in and slowly, she grew afraid. There wasn’t any light coming through anymore and she couldn’t find the hole she came in. In her panic, she took out her light only to be met by harsh screeching noises.

The rain reminded the others of the one who can’t be found.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was then followed during the time of a man, who happened to be at the courtyard at the entrance of the forest. He was a very welcoming person, often assisting those who were about to enter the hidden forest. He would tell them of the trail he made that they could follow to reach the temple of the Forest Elder. The forest was huge and it was easy to get lost after all.

While assisting one of the visitors of the forest one day, the rain fell for the first time in a long time. It was cool and refreshing, certainly something different from the usual weather. It had always been sort of humid with all the trees around but it hadn’t rained before, not on his watch. And as he did with all the other visitors of the forest, he welcomed the rain.

However, soon it showed that the rain would not stop. The pitter patter of raindrops continued, and the man initially didn’t pay mind to it until he started to feel too cold. He had just assisted another bunch of visitors to the hidden forest and was about to go back to the courtyard when the light of his candle got extinguished. He couldn’t open the door back to the courtyard nor could he open the one to the hidden forest.

His body started to shake a little as he ran to the nearest lantern he could find. He tried to light his candle but it was still too wet. He thought to himself that it would dry soon, surely, and he’ll be able to open the doors and join with others. But the lantern lost its light too soon. Perhaps, he forgot to add more oil. There wasn’t much reason to add to it before. He huddled in a corner and rubbed his arms, trying to conserve the warmth of his body. Surely…surely, someone would come and help him, just as he had helped others.

Slowly but surely…  
…as his body started to feel a lot more tired…  
…As his eyes closed bit by bit…  
…As his warmth faded into a chilling numbness…

He grew to hate the rain he loved before.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

This was soon followed by the time when two young ladies came, friends who were visitors of the forest. One was idealistic and somewhat of a hopeless romantic who sought for everything that is beautiful, and the other seemed rude at first but was simply outspoken and valued truth above all. They had visited the forest upon the idealistic one’s insistence after hearing about the amount of light minerals that could be found within the forest and how they could probably benefit from finding those deposits. 

Though the idealistic one promised that it would be fun, the outspoken one had her doubts, especially when the other had insisted that she carried the equipment needed to look for the mineral deposits. She was quite bulky and indeed, she had boasted once or twice about her strength. But she was feeling like she was being treated more of a subordinate rather than a friend at the moment. When she raised her concern, it was simply brushed off, only furthering her discontent.

It only exasperated her more when it had started raining. There were rumors that rain was pouring a lot more often in the forest but again, her friend had dismissed that. She had said that those were just rumors and even if it rained, she guessed it would be a beautiful sight. To be fair, it was but she couldn’t enjoy it while lugging their equipment with them and her feet getting stuck in the mud.

Soon, a man who was traveling in the forest had found them stuck in a short tunnel leading up to one of the temples where they could rest. Unlike them however, he came prepared and had an umbrella with him. They started to chat with each other but soon, the outspoken one felt left out. She couldn’t get a word in between the other two. When they reached the end, the man handed the umbrella to them, claiming that the rain didn’t bother him that much. The idealistic one initially tried to refuse but when the man proposed that they meet again in the forest under better weather, her tone had changed and accepted the umbrella wholeheartedly.

During the rest of the walk to the next temple, the hopeless romantic was distracted by thoughts of meeting up again with the man. Her head conjured scenarios far into the future where they had fallen in love with each other. She no longer noticed the plight of her friend who was getting more drenched in the rain as she held the umbrella close to her chest, blushing.

To say that it pissed the other one off was an understatement.

Once they had reached the temple, she dropped the equipment to the ground, which snapped the hopeless romantic out of her thoughts. Before she could ask what was wrong however, the outspoken continued walking down the path, leaving her alone. Confused, she followed her friend down as the other stomped and grumbled. No matter what she said, her friend continued to ignore her until she asked something that ended up breaking their friendship.

_What’s your problem?_

It was the last straw. The outspoken one screamed at her face, unloading a barrage of insults and profanities towards the other. She stomped her foot on the ground and crossed her arms when she uttered three words that broke the other’s heart.

_I hate you._

It wasn’t long until they left the forest, the reason why they were there in the first place gone from their minds. The only thing remained was that they had come together but now went on their separate ways. 

The rain poured even harder after that.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

And lastly, the final tragedy that caused the near constant rain to be permanent. It had simply been a series of unfortunate events when a tight-knit group of four light miners, a hunter, and a lumberjack went to work nearby the broken bridge. The forest seemed to have been abandoned from the entrance up until this point, with the bridge connecting to the temple long broken. Only the creatures of light that were outside could fly up to the temple to reach the sacred sanctuary beyond the temple.

The previously untouched hidden forest available for all who swore to protect it was now riddled with small tunnels and pathways for people who gathered light mineral deposits to send to the ones who lived on the mountains, using it to advance their civilization. They used it as hunting grounds as well, as the mineral deposits slowly dwindled in amount. The group was no different, they were simply doing their jobs.

The workers temporarily parted ways, promising to meet back up in one of the large hollow logs they used to take shelter from the rain. The hunter decided that the meeting place served as a good spot to hide from the creatures. As soon as she reached the end, she immediately spotted one that was an easy shot, making her feel confident of her decision. As she poised herself to shoot, a booming thud echoed and the ground shook for a moment, scaring the prey away. Dismayed at the lost, she held her head in her hands and shook her head.

Hurriedly, she checked on the lumberjack who was hiding under one of the mushroom caps that no longer glowed. Upon sight of her fuming form, the lumberjack bowed deeply, apologizing repeatedly. She didn’t expect that the wood of the tree had gotten soft from the rain and was rotting from the inside. She was simply inspecting it because she found it fascinating that the mushrooms had formed a ring around its trunk. She had only placed her hand on the trunk and applied a bit of pressure when the whole tree came tumbling down.

Unknown to them was the predicament of the four light miners. None of them were prepared when the ground shook, making them drop their candles in the ankle-deep water of the cave they were in. Their panic set in the moment they saw the entrance they came through blocked by rocks and the holes they could exit from were either too high above them or blocked by dark plants. They tried with all their might, pounding against the blockage, trying to mine it out, screaming for help for others to come and save them but to no avail.

They had no idea how much time had passed. Their throats were sore from shouting and they all sat on the only bits of dry land inside in silence. The rain continued to pour outside the cave, the sounds of pitter patter bouncing off from the cave walls. Tired of just sitting around, two of the light miners tried to check if they could make their own way out and they all agreed it was better than nothing. They thought they finally found a stroke of luck when one of the walls was soft enough to dig through. Impassioned, they dug and they dug…

But they weren’t lucky.

In quick time, the ones deeper in the hole they made managed to push away the others as more rocks fell upon them. Only two survived. The survivors tried to help their friends but the rocks on top of them were too heavy to move and more rocks simply replaced the rocks that they could take out. They tried and tried…but to no avail.

Only the sounds of pitter patter filled the air.

They tried not to lose hope, however. They rested, huddled together to stay warm. When they had energy, the continued to look for a way. And when they lost energy, they sat together on dry land. They didn’t know how long they did this, nor how much time had passed outside. All they knew was they had to keep trying.

But one of the surviving light miners started refusing to sit together some time later. It confused the other as they kept sitting farther and farther away from them. Until, the reason had sprouted out of their chest. A small bud of a dark plant that was steadily growing. The infected only gave the remaining one a pained smile as the other was forced to sit at a safe distance as he slowly withered away.

And then there was only one.

Something broke in this man. No sound would come out from his mouth but tears continuously ran down his face, like the rain pouring outside. His movements felt stiff as he took three rocks and arranged them on the land they had rested on. He felt an intense pressure in his chest as he knelt before the rocks, the only way he could give respect to them. And then, he cried.

He cried, screaming, not caring if he would never be able to use his voice again. He cried, asking the heavens what they had done wrong. He cried, wishing he had only fallen asleep and this was all just a dream. He cried, knowing it was not and there was nothing he could do about it. And when he lost his voice, he stayed there, kneeling, and waited for his time to come. It didn’t even register to him that the rain had stopped falling the same time his tears had dried up.

He didn’t know how long it took until he heard the voices of others on top, just outside where he was. He heard their concern, their hurried movements to find an entrance to the cave, and then, their stunned silence. He flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder, a voice telling him it was time to go.

But he didn’t want to. He couldn’t abandon his friends.

Someone took hold of him and tried to drag him outside, but he thrashed, limbs flying everywhere. He screamed and his tears fell once more. And as if the heavens took sympathy, it rained. But this time, it hissed and felt harsh upon their skin. Feeling that he was more trouble than his worth, his fellowmen left him behind as they rushed to leave the forest. And he stayed back in the cave with his friends until his last breath.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After that, the rain never stopped. Not until the sky kids had come to show light to the realm and restored the bridge to the temple. The sad thing was they were hurt by the rain and many wished for it to stop, unable to appreciate it. The rain never was supposed to hurt. It only wanted to cleanse and to bring rejuvenation to all. But now, it only served as a reminder. A reminder of tragedies and heartache that never go away. And that’s why it rains in the forest and why it hurts.


End file.
